2011/08/08 – Why did God create Religions?

So Many Religions, So Little Time!

Actually, the better question could be why God create so many religions? There are so many religious movements that it is impossible to name them all with any certainty, since there are so many divergent groups within each religious movement, and we are not even talking about the religious practices in the past that are no longer being followed, like Zoroastrianism, Mithraic or Orphic religions. I will use the Oxford dictionary definition of religion to illustrate this point. Religion is, “the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods. This is mostly in line with the 17th century British author Daniel Defoe, who wrote Robinson Crusoe who described religion as “the Worship given to God, but ’tis also applied to the Worship of Idols and false Deities.”

So religion can be shown to be created by God as a way to feed God’s ego. I mean, place yourself as God for a moment and hear me out. You are God. The source of all creation seated in perfect and complete knowledge. But you’re bored silly because you are all alone. So you create our of your being – or out of nothing – worlds and galaxies and beings! Over time these things begin wondering where they came from and what is their true place in existence. Now as God, you have the power to tell them yourself or see if they can figure it all out with their limited, flawed instruments they call “consciousness.” But you as God understand that they will never agree on what You as God really are. It will be as Kurt Vonnegut said in Breakfast of Champions, as if they were yeast molecules theorizing about their place in existence and never coming close to their reality of being inside a bottle of champagne.

If you’re God, that kind of shit must be awfully funny. Especially all the more so when you realize that God gave you so many religions to choose from. Maybe God gave us so many choices because if the human race held only one conception of God as ‘true,’ there would be no such thing as free choice. I mean, that’s the reason the religionists give when they excuse the existence of evil. Evil is here because God wanted us to choose freely between belief and unbelief. It just wouldn’t do if everyone was certain that God existed or that everyone was aware of God’s presence. It is strange that God – or whatever is behind all the different versions of God – would require not only we believe in Him, but that we must pick the correct version of all the Gods that are worshipped on Earth. OH, and you have to pick the correct INTERPRETATION of the correct version of the religion because nobody can really agree how God should be thought of and worshipped.

But if you are God, why would you need to be worshipped? Wouldn’t that put a crimp in your alleged “omnipotence.” You are the center of the Universe. What would be the point of craving some sort of formal expression from your creatures? Doesn’t that sound a least bit wack?

12 thoughts on “2011/08/08 – Why did God create Religions?”

If it helps, i tell my kids that religion is a lot like music – not every style will fit every taste. Not every lyric will contain the same meaning or impact.

i think that maybe there are so many religions because God wants a relationship with his creatures (vs. “worship”), and he plays a whole variety of “songs” simply in an effort to reach as many of them as possible.

And to answer a possible follow-up question, i feel that these religions turn against each other not because of God, but because his creatures seem so unwilling to allow any others their “free choice”.

The problem with this point of view is that it an only be made as an opinion. There is nothing in what you posted here that adds to the understanding of why God created so many different religions. Then again, what understanding could help us come to a relationship with God that doesn’t rely on opinion? God, if such a thing exists (and I am very satisfied that nothing like it does for various reasons) why would there be such an emphasis on evidence on things “not seen.” If I were a religious ‘wise-guy,’ I sure would make such an article of faith mandatory because I would need a way to make sure the religious story could NOT be verified – and if there is no God, the religious wise-guy is safe as milk.

On the strength of “things not seen”, it might have to do with the free will you mentioned earlier. If God was fact instead of faith, it’s possible that this freedom might be negated as a result.

When i was a child, i was much more prone to not misbehave when i knew my parents were close by and/or watching. In those cases, i wasn’t behaving because i wanted to, but rather, because i felt i had to.

If there is a God (and i’m pretty sure there is), and he wanted a relationship, then i would assume that he would want it to be voluntary rather than mandatory. And if he has standards as well, then i would think that he would want a person to meet with those standards out of choice rather than fear.

i know there is very little proof in what i’m saying, but like you, i feel that the conversation will always have to end (hopefully in a respectful fashion) relying solely on opinion.

There is no “free will” (although I do recognize this belief as a theological concept with some religious streams of Christianity) when everyone is subject to the real “God” in this world, which is money. Furthermore, it is very hard if not impossible to establish a relationship with an other by virtue of belief only (the desire of wanting something to be ‘true’). Such a relationship can only be mental. Not good enough.

Exactly, when you take a closer look, it makes no sense. Unfortunately, emotions get in the way and people are so busy reacting-hating you for writing this for example, they don’t stop that energetic rush long enough to really ‘think ‘ it through!

First God did not create all these religions, man did! Man saw fit to create something to fit him, while denying God.
What do you do when someone tell you to do something. You pout, and go off and do what you want to do.
It’s called Disobedience.

As the ancient Greek philosopher Xenophanes said over 2600 years ago, “…if cattle and horses or lions had hands, or were able to draw with their hands and do the work that men can do, horses would draw the forms of the gods like horses, and cattle like cattle, and they would make their bodies such as they each had themselves.” By this, Xenophanes correctly stated the problem with human beings anthropomorphizing the “Gods.” If God did not exist, human would find it necessary to create Him. You have been programmed to be religious and accept religious concepts whether they can be verified or not. But actually – no religious claim can be verified. The claims can only be asserted and “believed.” God lives only in your imagination.

Would you mind me asking a question then – one that has puzzled me for many years. Should it be that God lives only in the imagination of the believer, then why is it that so many (but not all) atheists are so hard pressed to prove to the believers his non-existence? Why is it that both parties can’t live peacefully together while having separate ideas about him?

Please don’t make mention of Wars (there have been just as many over property and principal), and please don’t place all who believe in same camp as the “Christians” (i’m thinking the Westboro-types) who “do unto atheists as atheists would do unto them”. Those two items aside, i would really like to know though – why are there cases where one who doesn’t believe in God is propelled to prove his non-existence to those who do?

I agree with you on the point that atheism is in essence, a religionist position. Atheists may disappointed in the world and may feel betrayed by God or they may intellectually find religionism a superstition, as the world is here and does not have to be explained in metaphysical ways. They may also see religionists destroy others in the name of their “Gods” with a senseless violence that has blasted people into nonexistence over a unverifiable superstition. These are the main objections to religionism, and since the religionists cannot verify the truth claims they make, they would rather destroy those who object to their imaginations, and if you look at all the wars in human history waged in the names of humanities many “Gods,” then you could agree that killing another over what they believe in is evil, wouldn’t you? And this is why some people view religionist ideas are dangerous and not beneficial to human beings, especially those of the ones who will employ all sorts of terrorism to defend their beliefs, I have made mention of wars specifically because you asked me not to, which indicates to me that this is a point you are afraid to face. And if you are a Christian, or a Jew, you would know that Jehovah wants you to commit war against all unbelievers.

It might be instructive to peruse the book of Joshua, where there are many questionable practices allegedly commanded by Jehovah for His people to carry out, including genocide and forced slavery.’ In those days, Jehovah was principally Israel’s God of War. Jehovah ordered the mass slaughter of the Canaanites. Whether this actually happened is not found in the historical record, but gives one a taste of what a God of War would have LIKED to have done.

And seriously, what if Jehovah’s Divine Vengeance actually was a real, palpable, verifiable force in this world? Would it really be that much different than a world controlled by the Devil?

And lastly, while atheists have the same missionary zeal as your friendly neighborhood evangelical, it is a superior position because they do not trust, depend on, look to or require to believe in an imaginary, unverifiable spirit in the sky just because they are afraid of death. That’s why religion, the arts and sciences exist. Meaning is imposed upon this world through the mind, and the purpose of the mind is to figure out its relationship with the other (as energy). Once you can get into that, you can see how religion is completely unnecessary to deal with the world, as it has long ago been robbed of its moral force to the extent that it has become a delusional deceit and deception.

i wouldn’t say i’m so much “afraid to face” the topic of war as i would say that in most conversations it ends up being much more of a red herring than an actual point of conversation. In short, God is no more (and no less) to blame for war than we are. And so, if it can be said that God does not exist because war does, then we can say the same of ourselves.

In addition, i don’t really feel you answered the question of “why”? In the case of the religionist, they most likely do have a “call to action” by their God to convert the unbelievers. i would assume that atheists, free of any “higher power”, would have no such mandate. So why would they care, then, if someone is foolish enough to believe a lie? Care to the point that they need to “re-educate” the believer? Do they go after those who still believe in Santa with the same zest?

i guess what i was asking before (and i apologize if it came out wrong) is why, if i’m a peaceful person who keeps my beliefs to myself, can’t the atheist (the type who would normally argue the point at any rate) treat me the same?

Jehovah is an ancient desert tribal God of War. How is that misleading or distracting? Just today, Israel is dropping bombs in Gaza and on their own town of Beersheba, a town mentioned several times in the Book of Genesis and connected to the Biblical figures, Abraham and Isaac. I see no distance between the warlike nature of this desert god Jehovah and the military actions of the nation of Israel against the Palestinians. Which begs the question: why did God Create War? But I digress…

When the tribal desert god of the Israelites is mentioned in the OT as ordering the extermination of other nations, this makes Jehovah look like a genocidal maniac. This is supposed to be the God of “Love,” remember? The war point – as is the existence of evil – are the weakest spots in Christian theodicy. When people say they believe in God, what they really mean is that they have ‘thoughts’ “about” ‘God.’ One’s relationship with God is never experiential. It is always subjective – a relationship between the mind of the believer and the thoughts the mind generates about God.

Look at it. You didn’t believe in God until someone else gave you the concept. It is not something that is innate within people. God is a learned subject. As to your question: ” So why would they care, then, if someone is foolish enough to believe a lie,” you should realize that people who believe in the Word are fucking this world up over religious beliefs. Yes, that would be Reason Number 1, “why?”